• A lawsuit against the Department of Justice will be heard April 23
  • Federal government based its decision on an international law ruling
  • Germany fines parents for home schooling and can revoke custody rights
  • An estimated 2 million children in the US are home schooled
White House petition took less than 30 days to attract 100,000 supportersA Tennessee family of devout evangelical Christian asylum-seekers who face deportation to their native Germany has reached a milestone in their quest to remain in the United States, now that their petition on the White House's website collected more than 100,000 signatures in less than 30 days.

That's the magic number that the Obama administration says will trigger an official review and a formal response. The total currently stands are more than 111,000.

'Every state in the United States of America recognizes the right to homeschool,' reads the petition filed by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), 'and the U.S. has the world's largest and most vibrant homeschool community. Regrettably, this family faces deportation in spite of the persecution they will suffer in Germany.'

That group sued the Department of Justice after a judge in the DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review ruled that Uwe and Hannelore Romeike's earlier grant of asylum should be revoked.

Romeike
© UnknownThe school day in the Romeike household is conducted around the kitchen table, with Hannelore making the rounds as her children study. An advocacy group sued the federal government over their deportation order, and a federal appeals court will hear the case on April 23

Romeike
© UnknownThe family has six children, with a seventh on the way. All five who are of school age are homeschooled inside their Tennessee house
An estimated 2 million children in the US are home schooled, including the five out of six of the Romeikes' children who are school-age. Hannelore Romeike is pregnant and expecting her seventh child in June.

But the practice of teaching children at home instead of in government-run schools is illegal in Germany. An estimated 200 families teach their own children there anyway, even at the risk of fines, criminal prosecution and, in some cases, the loss of custody of their children.

'The public expects the White House to explain the inexplicable,' said the HSLDA's Michael Farris. 'In a season where the Administration has expressed leniency for millions of undocumented immigrants, we are baffled by the extreme attitudes toward this one German family.'

Uwe Romeike appeared on the Mike Huckabee Show on the Fox News Channel, saying about the petition that 'the most important thing about this is that the government sees that not only are we interested in getting asylum, but the American people in general stand behind this case.'

'It's all about freedom for parents to decide on their children's education,' he said.

Romeike
© Fox NewsThe family appeared on Fox News to thank their supporters and ask the Obama administration to see homeschooling as a human and religious right that the US should protect
Romeike petition
© White House
'We, the undersigned, respectfully request that the Obama Administration grant full and permanent legal status to Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their children,' the petition reads. If it attracts 100,000 signatures by April 18, it will trigger a response from the administration
But Professor David Abraham of the University of Miami Law School argued Friday on Fox that home-schooling isn't a basic human right, and that the Romeike family isn't entitled to stay in the United States.

'Home schooling may be a good idea. It may be a bad idea. It's a public policy question,' Abraham said.

'Not having home schooling is not being persecuted. Asylum is about persecution.'

'They are not getting something they would like,' he insisted. "that's true for people everywhere, and that's why we have legislatures.'

Romeike
© UnknownProfessor David Abraham from the University of Miami Law School (L) says the family isn't entitled to political asylum just because the German government has criminalized homeschooling. Their children's curriculum includes math, science and other typical school subjects
The 'We The People' petition system was a creation of the Obama administration. In its original form, petitioners were required to collect 5,000 signatures to guarantee a White House response. That cutoff was quickly raised to 25,000.

The administration raised the bar again, to require 100,000 signatures, in December.

Romeike
© UnknownUwe Romeike supervises one of her daughters during a reading lesson in their Tennessee home. The Obama administration seeks their deportation back to Germany, where home schooling is illegal